Toyota Prius importation under threat due to U.S. patent trade case?

[iLoveCars001]

With every new vehicle introduced by Toyota powered by the automakers’s proprietary Hybrid Synergy Drive comes a matching complaint filed by Paice LLC for patent infringement. In the latest case, Paice has filed a grievance with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington alleging that Toyota is violating a patent it holds for powertrains that feature both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor – better known as hybrids.

Source: Auto Short News
What its your opinion?

[Politburo]

There is a thread on this in the news section.

[David Beale]

Has nothing to do with what they can import and sell. Has everything to do with how much they will have to pay the complainant once the case is settled (which will range from 0 to "who knows"). It will not impact the owners, only Toyota. It -could- impact the future price of the car. So buy now.

[The Electric Me]

Originally Posted by iLoveCars001

With every new vehicle introduced by Toyota powered by the automakers’s proprietary Hybrid Synergy Drive comes a matching complaint filed by Paice LLC for patent infringement. In the latest case, Paice has filed a grievance with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington alleging that Toyota is violating a patent it holds for powertrains that feature both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor – better known as hybrids.

Source: Auto Short News
What its your opinion?

Without access to more details I can't have much of an opinion. It's a legal battle now. Toyota has sold milions of Hybrids, they're not going away, nor is Toyota going to stop building and selling them. If Paice LLC has simular patents on simular technology, then they have the right to file complaints and pursue litigation.

My guess is as Hybrid technology does become more mainstream, with Honda, Hyundai and other automakers looking at adopting different systems, patent battles may become more common.

How does a new automaker adopt a hybrid system without infringing on Toyota or Honda's current technology? Gasoline engine, Battery, Electric Motors...?

It's almost like selling a candy bar that is exactly like a Snickers bar but saying "It's different because ours is Caramel and Peanuts and the Snickers bar is Peanuts and Caramel.

In anycase, I'm sure this is something Toyota wishes they did not have to deal with but I don't see it really hampering either production or sales. My feeling is that if Paice LLC could of stopped importation it would of already happened.

This will be settled in a courtroom with highly trained lawyers hammering out some type of reality. Since Toyota was the genesis of HSD, and actually employed the original designer I think Paice is just leveraging for some type of payment...which might be considerable, but it's not going to stop Toyota, HSD, or Hybrids.

[Aegison]

One issue which I understand comes up in patent cases is whether the item or idea was in some kind of prior general use. Patents aren't thoroughly vetted upon issue -- it only gets to the fine details once there is a patent dispute.

I think the true original "patent" on the "ICE / Electric Motor" goes at least back to German U-boats, which were pricisely that kind of hybrid system.

Ford had a cut-away of a hybrid design in part of its lobby many years ago, and if I remember correctly, the formula it showed was what we now see in the Prius, Civic, Fusion Hybrid, etc. Nothing new under the sun.

There's an interesting CY 2000 Forbes article on patents ... dated, but it illustrates the confusion which is the US Patent Office. Article is at Patently Absurd - Forbes.com

One good entry from it reads: ""I don't really mind patents on impossible things, which I just laugh about," says Jean-loup Gailly, a French computer scientist who has written several well-known compression programs. "The real problem comes when patents are granted for processes that were already known at the time." "